“The ability to be able to help such a wonderful family in their time of need was an incredible feeling….”
AUTHOR: Ashley Evans
A week before Christmas in 2018, the Gunn family’s life was forever changed in an instant.
Katelin Gunn had finished the school year and not long returned to the family farm, Mt Cooper Downs, located 650 kilometers west of Adelaide on the Eyre Peninsula. Katelin was travelling across the farm in the family’s Landcruiser when she was thrown from the vehicle.
Tragically, she suffered life threatening injuries which resulted in her becoming a paraplegic. Katelin required a six month stay in hospital and faced a long road to rehabilitation.
Her parents, Dad Stuart and Mum Julie, quickly realised they would need to urgently buy a home in Adelaide for Julie and Katelin’s siblings to live in while they supported her recovery efforts. It was decided Stuart needed to stay on the farm and keep the family business going.
As the fourth generation Gunn to own Mt Cooper Downs, Stuart had expanded the family sheep farm to over 25,00 acres, with crops now including wheat, barley, lentils and canola. It’s a highly successful operation and having been with the same Big 4 Bank for several generations, it never occurred to Stuart that the loan for a home in Adelaide would be rejected.
The news came as a major blow.
Already devastated about the accident and unable to see a way forward, Stuart says my name popped into his mind out of nowhere. We’d gone to school together decades earlier and he recounts that he remembered that I was doing “something in the finance industry”.
When I got Stuart’s call out of the blue, we could have been sitting at the same table rather than some 2,600 kilometers away from each other. His devastation was heartbreaking and I made a promise to him that I’d do everything in my power to help.
The AAA Financial Solutions team quickly sprung into action. With decades of combined experience in the industry, we used our contacts and extensive networks to plot a path forward that would give Stuart and his family some peace of mind during what was an incredibly difficult time.
When the final approvals came through for the purchase of the Adelaide home loan, we were ecstatic. The ability to be able to help such a wonderful family in their time of need was an incredible feeling.
While Katelin and the Gunn family still face challenges they wouldn’t have even been able to comprehend before the accident, the family has a home and safe place to retreat to at the end of the day.
Playing a role in that has been an honour and a humbling experience to say the least. At the end of the day, it is outcomes like this that drive us to continue to be so passionate about what we do.
[ENDS]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ash is an experienced lending manager and agricultural specialist.
Originally from Adelaide, he has had the pleasure of working with regional industries across Australia.
Specifically, after taking an interest in North and Western Queensland, Ash co-founded the AAA Group and has played a fundamental role in the success of small business in the area.
Throughout his 30-year career, Ash continues to cherish his wealth of professional relationships. Naturally, this has fuelled his desire to connect remote business owners with the professional assistance they deserve.